In 1067 William went on a tour of England where he confiscated lands and also built castles and organised law and order. In 1069 King Sweyn of Denmark lead raids on the north of the country. Then Sweyn’s fleet sailed to York and burnt it. William’s army forced him to retreat. Then he burnt property, houses and crops between York and Durham. Some people said that the area was turned into a desert because the people died of starvation. The rebellion finished when William’s army captured him. William reorganised churches. Lanfranc became archbishop of Canterbury. Another rebellion force opposed him lead by Hereward. He had captured the isle of Ely William lead the Norman army against him. William punished the rebels with a life of imprisonment then William built a castle at Ely. William went back to Normandy in 1073 and later that year conquered Maine. While he was away Waltheof and Ralph, earl of Norfolk began to plan ideas to defeat William but Geoffrey of Coutances, a good friend of William led a fight against Waltheof and Ralph and ordered that all rebels had to have their right foot cut off. When William came back to England in 1076 Waltheof was executed. Ralph, Earl of Norfolk escaped to Brittany. In 1077 William’s oldest son, Robert Curthose, said to William that William should let him be the ruler of Normandy and Maine. But William refused. Robert curthose rebelled and tried to siege the town of Rouen. But Robert failed and fled to Gerberoi. In 1080 William sieged Gerberoi and caught him but William’s wife persuaded them to stop their arguments. William went back to Normandy soon after and he had left Odo of Bayeux but in 1082 William heard complaints about Odo. When William returned Odo was arrested for misgoverning and stay in there for Five years. In 1083 William had defeated a rebellion lead by Hubert de Beaumont in Maine. Then in 1084 William returned to England to defeat an invasion by King Cnut of Denmark while waiting for the invasion William ordered a survey of his kingdom. There where a couple of reason for this. One to find out how much he could charge them in taxes. Two, to find out the population of the kingdom to find out the soldiers he would need to defend and Three, to find out the amount of land he owned so he could give it to people who where fighting over it. Officials where sent to each town to ask each family now much land they owned, have much farm equipment they had and how many animals they owned. The information was collected in seven months and was sent to Winchester and then it was written into a book called the “Domesday book” (mentioned above in “what were William’s greatest achievements).
